Monday, March 31, 2008

Renewed Motivation

I'm renewing my motivation for living the SWEET Life. Having Spring Break last week helped encourage me because I had more free time to focus on it. Last week also started my latest 4-week goal cycle. My 4-week goal is simply to consciously live the SWEET Life, which I had become increasingly worse about doing over the previous 6 weeks.

We went to Lake Tahoe for 4 days with another family, which was great fun. I took my SWEET Life tools, with copies for the other adults on the trip. It was a lot easier to live the SWEET Life while on vacation because I recruited the others to live it with me for those 4 days.

Sleep
Last night I slept horribly! I went to bed late because I was trying to get some stuff done, and Zoe cried out for me, then squirmed around in my bed the rest of the night. Horrible!

Water
I drank enough beverages yesterday, although they weren't all water.

Eating
I ate well, but surprisingly, I didn't eat a lot of grains.

Exercise
I went running on the beach yesterday.

Tranquility
I got a lot of stuff done while my girls were napping, so, yes, I had tranquility.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a _WEET Life.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A New SWEET Life Goal

I've started a new SWEET Life Cycle, which is a 4 week calendar tracking my SWEET Life. I circle the letter corresponding to each aspect of the SWEET Life each day that I achieve it.

The first 12 weeks of this year, I'd used two 6-week Cycles; however, it's easy to blow off the first couple weeks, then get really serious about it the last four weeks. Therefore, I think 4 weeks is a better amount of time to work towards a goal.

In the last cycle, it was the first time (in 8 cycles) that I didn't achieve my goal! :-( There are a variety of reasons why, mostly because it was based on an exercise manual I loaned to someone for a week, who still hasn't returned it, a month later!

In any case, I didn't live a very SWEET life five of the last six weeks. I simply didn't keep track of my water or eating very consistently. Also, I exercised four instead of five days a week, which makes a difference for me, personally. I have to eat less and pay more attention to what I eat when I exercise less than five days a week, which I didn't do!

Therefore, my SWEET Life goal for the next 4 weeks is to be able to see on my SWEET Life Cycle that I lived the SWEET Life 5-6 days every week for the next 4 weeks. So how did I do yesterday, the first day of my 4-week Cycle?

Sleep: I slept 7-8 hours Sunday night.

Water: I didn't drink enough water, especially considering we were in Santa Cruz, outside in the sun all afternoon.

Eating: I ate a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I also ate some junk food at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Exercise: I didn't exercise, per se, but we were on our feet walking around most of the afternoon in Santa Cruz.

Tranquility: It was a very tranquil day, a wonderful day with family and friends at the beach!

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a S_ _ _T Life. Not a good start to my new goal. This week is going to be difficult because we are going to Tahoe Wed.-Sat., where it also might be difficult to live the SWEET Life. But I have to put an effort into it and make it happen.

Monday, March 17, 2008

A semi-SWEET Life is better than nothing!

Over the past month or two, I've been blogging less frequently, about every 7-10 days instead of every 2-4 days. The reason is that I've been so busy that (1) I haven't had time to blog and (2) I haven't been living the SWEET Life as consistently. Because of that, I have to grudgingly admit that my scale has tipped up a few pounds and my clothes are a bit tighter than they used to be.

At the same time, I know that living the SWEET Life has prevented me from gaining a lot more weight due to the stress of being overly busy. I'm not stressed, my diet isn't out of control, exercise isn't a thing of the past, and plentiful sleep isn't a distant memory. Before living the SWEET Life, all of this would have been the case, being as busy as I am right now. In the past, I would have just focused on completing the tasks I needed to complete without regard to any of the aspects of the SWEET Life. Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise and Tranquility would all have suffered and my body would have been a mess.

Therefore, I do thank the SWEET Life for mitigating most of the effects of living an overly busy life. In the past month or so, I've been generally pretty good about getting enough sleep and tranquility, and I've been exercising 4 times a week instead of 5. However, I have not been good about paying attention to eating well, and I haven't been drinking 8 cups of water per day. So today, once again, I try to be diligent and live the SWEET Life fully.

Sleep
I slept 7 hr last night. Zoe did come in at her usual 3 a.m., but she fell right back to sleep and didn't move around much, so it didn't bother me too much.

Water
I filled up my pitcher and have been drinking it. I also made homemade mint lemonade with my girls, which I've had 2 cups of. Mmm, good!

Eating
I'm keeping track on my SWEET Life Plan today so that I eat a better balance of food groups (i.e., enough fruits and vegies)

Exercise
I ran at the gym and did my ab exercises.

Tranquility
My girls are napping, so I'm trying to get stuff done, which makes me feel good.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Today, I 'm living the SWEET Life!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Exercise Variety

Sleep
I've been sleeping well this entire week. I'm 7 for 7!

Water
I've been trying to drink my water, but honestly, I haven't been keeping track very well this week.

Eating
I generally always eat healthy, but I really have not been keeping track this week.

Exercise
I've had a variety of exercise this week. Monday I tried a Gliding DVD that a colleague lent me. It uses special pads to slide your legs or arms across the floor, like skating. It was tough! Tuesday, I had a very light workout. I ran in the morning on Wednesday, which was a nice change from going to the gym. It was light early enough in the morning to do so. However, today we started Day Light Savings time, which means it'll be dark in the mornings again for another month. :-( Friday I did a hard strength workout at the gym, based on exercises in a magazine. Typically those magazine exercises don't give me a very good workout, but I did them in a more intensive order than the magazine suggested to get a better workout. Saturday, my family took a bike ride, and it was beautiful weather to do so! So that makes 5 times this week.

Tranquility
I got some tranquility every day this week, 7 out of 7 days. However, I'm realizing that tranquility isn't as simple as getting both my daughters to nap at the same time. I do need more time to do relaxing things, rather than catching up or having the time to do necessary things. When my girls nap, I do work: housework, ESL work or personal training-related work, but work. I actually have very little time to do whatever comes to mind, and typically when I do "whatever comes to mind" I end up feeling like I didn't spend my time efficiently to get "work" done. Hmmm . . .

How did I do, and how do I feel?
This week, I have had a S??ET Life.